Video 6:54
Year anniversary since Briscoe death in custody

On Tuesday, it will be one year since the Northern Territory Coroner handed down his damning findings into the death-in-custody of an Aboriginal man in Alice Springs.

Transcript

ALYSSA BETTS, PRESENTER: On Tuesday, it will be one year since the Northern Territory Coroner handed down his damning findings into the death-in-custody of an Aboriginal man in Alice Springs. 27-year-old Kwementyaye Briscoe died in the police watch-house after he was taken into protective custody because he was drunk. Up to 10 officers were disciplined over his death and there were widespread reforms in the Northern Territory police. But 12 months on, Mr Briscoe's family say they feel justice hasn't been done and they're tired of fighting. Sally Brooks reports, and a warning - this story has images of the deceased person and disturbing footage from the police watch-house.

SALLY BROOKS, REPORTER: In January last year, Alice Springs police took Kwementyaye Briscoe into protective custody for being drunk. Five hours later he was found dead in a watch-house cell.

GREG CAVANAGH, NT CORONER: I find that the care, supervision and treatment of the deceased while being held in custody by the Northern Territory Police was completely inadequate and unsatisfactory and not sufficient to meet his medical needs. This lack of care resulted in his death. That is to say this death was preventable and it should not have occurred.

SALLY BROOKS: It's been a long battle for Mr Briscoe's family. Since his death, they've fought for police to be held accountable.

GEORGE NEWHOUSE, FAMILY LAWYER: Sadly, the Briscoe family have lost faith in our system. They don't believe that they are being taken seriously.

SALLY BROOKS: CCTV footage tendered at the inquest into Mr Briscoe's death shows officers dragging and then carrying him to a cell where he was placed alone and face down on a mattress. Inmates tried to raise the alarm when they heard him gasping and struggling to breathe, but police were distracted by other detainees at the time. His body was found two hours after he died.After a 10 day inquest, Coroner Greg Cavanagh found Mr Briscoe died from acute alcohol intoxication and asphyxia. He made a number of recommendations, including that dragging prisoners was unacceptable and that nurses should be stationed in watch-houses in the major centres. Mr Briscoe's death led to widespread changes in the police force.

JOHN MCROBERTS, NT POLICE COMMISSIONER: We now have nurses in the watch-houses in Alice Springs, Katherine and Darwin. We have custody sergeants whose role and responsibility is to ensure that those people who are taken into police care in a watch-house are appropriately cared for and I am very confident that the lessons that have been learnt from his death and the changes that have been made to Northern Territory Police policy and procedures since then will go as far as we possibly can to preventing a repeat.

SALLY BROOKS: The Coroner also urged action to reduce the supply of excess takeaway alcohol.

GREG CAVANAGH, NT CORONER: The numbers of Indigenous Australians taken into protective custody in the Northern Territory each month is a national shame.

SALLY BROOKS: A meeting was held with stakeholders to discuss alcohol supply in Alice Springs. Health advocates say nothing has been done to reduce the supply of takeaway grog beyond existing restrictions.

DR JOHN BOFFA, PEOPLE'S ALCOHOL ACTION COALITION: We're thankful that the government have not removed in anyway the supply reduction measures that have been so effective here in Alice Springs - they're still in place at a population level. But unfortunately, by removing photo licensing they have removed, if you like, a mechanism for individual supply reduction targeted at the heaviest drinkers.

SALLY BROOKS: The NT Bar Association is alarmed by the escalating number of Aboriginal deaths in custody since a Royal Commission report in the early nineties.

JOHN LAWRENCE SC, PRESIDENT NT BAR ASSOCIATION: That Royal Commission examined Aboriginal deaths in custody in every state and Territory over a period of 10 years. We were proud to acknowledge there was only two in the Northern Territory. Since then, we have now had in those 20 years 20 Aboriginal deaths in custody, so our figures are going through the roof.

SALLY BROOKS: Mr Briscoe's family members declined to be interviewed for this story but say they're tired of trying to hold authorities to account.Lawyer George Newhouse has been representing the family since the inquest.

GEORGE NEWHOUSE, FAMILY LAWYER: The Coroner did find that Mr Briscoe's death was unnecessary and that there were multiple failings of the police and senior police administration that led to his death and the family are concerned that not a single person has been held accountable for the death of their relative.

SALLY BROOKS: The Coroner has previously said he was never asked to refer the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

GEORGE NEWHOUSE, FAMILY LAWYER: We weren't the lawyers for the family at that time but we put a very detailed brief, prepared by a barrister in Melbourne, to the Northern Territory DPP about a range of potential criminal offences that had been committed by those police involved that evening.

SALLY BROOKS: Mr Newhouse has also asked WorkSafe NT to investigate whether there had been a breach of health and safety laws. WorkSafe refused, saying the authority was not convinced the Act extended to those in protective custody.

GEORGE NEWHOUSE, FAMILY LAWYER: Their response is incredibly insensitive and fails to acknowledge the desperate need for protecting vulnerable people in lock-ups.

SALLY BROOKS: The Northern Territory Government says it takes very seriously the Briscoe family's claim for compensation but necessary details have not yet been provided. Mr Briscoe's relatives have dropped all legal action, saying they're tired of battling the Northern Territory justice system.

ALYSSA BETTS: NT WorkSafe says Mr Briscoe's death doesn't fall under the agency's jurisdiction and it stands by its decision not to investigate. The Director of Public Prosecutions says the issues were dealt with at the time and it will not be making further comment.